Newt's New Niffler
by secretfanficlover
Summary: Newt goes camping in the woods with his family and comes across a creature that needs his help.


**I own nothing.**

* * *

Word Count: 1202

Title: Newt's New Niffler

Beta: whitetiger91, Tasha9315, White Eyebrow

* * *

Golden Snitch

[Name] Crissie

[School] Uagadou

[House] Ogyinae

Care of Magical Creatures: House Elf- write about a Hufflepuff (OC welcome)

Olivanders: Write about a Hufflepuff

* * *

The House Cup

[School] Gryffindor

[Subject] Charms

[Category] Standard

[Prompt] [Creature] Baby niffler

* * *

Hogwarts

Yearly:

Prompt 560 [Song] Shiny - Moana

Word 279 [Word] Shine

* * *

"Theseus," the father said. "You help me with the tent; Newton, go wander around."

Newt grinned. He knew his father wasn't a big fan of his excursions, and his restless behaviour often confused the man.

Theseus shot his brother a jealous look; he didn't want to help set up the tent either, but he was older and needed to be the mature one.

Newt was walking around with the knife his father had given him in his first year when he'd received his Hogwarts letter. It had the engraving of a salamander on the blade. He always kept it with him; even though his father had wanted both his sons in Gryffindor, he accepted that Newt was someone a little bit different.

He had wandered off the path in the woods and came across a mound that was being used as a Niffler nest.

"Wow, this is amazing," Newt said; then he noticed the entrance had been obscured by a fallen branch from a nearby thorn tree.

Pickett made a noise that alerted him to the injured white mother Niffler. He took his knife and cut at the tree branch, freeing the mother. He saw the small new-born Niffler babies; there were only two of them, both unusually pitch-black. They were in the very back of the mound, so the tree hadn't injured them. He knew from his books that mother Nifflers often had large litters, and he found it odd that only two of them had survived.

Newt tried to help the mother as best he could. He tried to bandage the mother's front leg, her small eyes looking up at him in despair. She lay there, unable to move. She made a sad crying noise as he tried to clean the open wound on her back. The thorns had left scrapes all over her tiny body, and no matter what Newt did, he didn't think he would be able to save her. He did his best to make her as comfortable as he could until she died, leaving the two Nifflers as orphans. He wasn't sure what to do; he knew how his father would feel about them adopting another animal.

His mother worked as a curse breaker, so he was sure she would be able to use one of them; she was his best excuse. He took his black cloak and put it on the ground, leading the babies into it by putting a bronze Knut on it. The first one crept towards it instantly, but the other Niffler was weary. Newt realised it was a bit more skittish. He knew they would go towards anything that shone, though.

"Come on then, I'll take care of you," he whispered.

It encouraged the smaller baby to also climb onto his cloak. He instantly bonded with both of them; once his mother saw them, he was sure they could keep them. He wrapped his cloak around them, intending to keep them a secret from his father until it was too late for them to be put back into the wild without a mother where they couldn't survive.

When he got back, his father and brother had set up the tent; he shot straight for his room. He closed the door, then created a nest out of his blankets and pillows to try and imitate the Nifflers' natural environment to the best of his abilities.

They both started crying as soon as he placed them into the nest. He realised they were hungry. He went into the kitchen, smelling his father cooking bacon.

"Can I have a glass of milk?" Newt asked; he knew the babies wouldn't be eating solids yet.

"Sure," his father said, not even looking up from the sizzling pan.

They had left before dawn for their boys' trip, and all three of them hadn't eaten yet. His father intended for them to have breakfast together at the campsite.

Newt disappeared back into his room. Using a bowl for the milk, he placed it just outside the hole of their makeshift nest. The two babies crawled out of the hole and started slurping at the milk. The poor things must have missed several feedings, and having been trapped inside the nest, they couldn't have gone outside to look for food.

Newt laughed softly as he watched the smallest one knock over the copper bowl, spilling the rest of the milk over the floor. It then curled up inside the empty bowl. Newt's laughter and the noise from the bowl being knocked over attracted Theseus' attention.

"Newt, you didn't," he said with a sigh when he spotted the black baby Nifflers on the floor of his room.

"Their mother _died_," Newt said.

"Father won't allow it; we can't afford them, Newt," Theseus replied.

"Come on, Mom could use one of them for her job, it's practically an investment," he insisted.

Theseus laughed. "Convince father of that."

"You won't tell him?"

"You have to tell him," Theseus said. "You can't keep them a secret this entire trip."

The disappointed look on Newt's face was enough for his brother to promise not to say anything.

As the little ones grew a little larger over the following days, they became restless and wanted to explore more of their habitat, which had now become Newt's bedroom. They managed to creep into every corner where anything shiny was kept, and before long, there was hardly anything left of the room.

Newt returned to find his entire room destroyed in their search for gold. The smaller one was timid, and when he picked him up and scolded him, he looked at Newt with the biggest innocent eyes.

"Oh come on, I know you both did it," Newt said, toppling the Niffler over gently, and shaking the shiny items from his pouch.

When he attempted the same with the other one, he tried to dash into their blanket nest. Newt still managed to grab him, but needed to hold him a bit firmer to get the bounty from him.

It had been a miracle Newt had kept them a secret for almost a week. This time, however, his father was inside the tent when the commotion occurred, and before Newt could conceal them, the man walked into his room.

Mr Scamander let out a sigh upon seeing his son with two more creatures.

"How long have you been hiding them?" he asked.

"I found them on the first day," Newt admitted sheepishly. "Their mother died; I couldn't just leave them there to die, too."

"Oh bother," his father said when the Nifflers turned their doe eyes to him.

"Mum could use one for work." Newt tried to reason; he knew his father was more logically minded.

"We will owl her. If she says yes, you can keep them," Mr Scamander said.

"Thanks, Father," Newt said, smiling; the two Nifflers seemed to smile at him as well.

Once they received word back from Newt's mother, who was thrilled at the prospect, they agreed that Newt could raise them until one could help her in Gringotts bank. They went home, and Mrs Scamander instantly bonded to the more timid one, and Newt decided he would keep the naughty one.


End file.
